The Iron Tactician

Alastair Reynolds
The Iron Tactician Cover

The Iron Tactician

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2/6/2017
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A mystery adventure set in a fantastic science fictional universe

Synopsis: Merlin is a "freelancer"--an independent spacer who's existed thousands of years of relative time in the universe by spending most of it traveling near the speed-of-light in a transportation network left by an extinct race of aliens. He has been seeking a legendary weapon which he believes can swing the balance of the millenia-old war between his people and a brutal alien race. But now, as the alien device on his ship which enables him to travel the network is failing, he encounters hope in the form of a dead ship floating in space--from which he can possibly salvage a new transport device. But he discovers that the dead ship is not quite dead yet.

What I thought: This is the fourth Merlin story written by Reynolds; the first three stories can be found in the collection Zima Blue and Other Stories. The worldbuilding is inventive, and the plot is clever (although, in accordance with my usual form, I twigged to one of the major reveals quite early on). I really enjoyed it, but it did not quite get to award-worthy for me. However, I've already requested the collection with the rest of the Merlin stories from my library, and I'm looking forward to reading more stories featuring this flawed, but appealing, character.